Can't Break
by Greenflares
Summary: Sirius and Regulus still meet sometimes. Despite everything else, they're still brothers.


A/N: I don't know what this is. There was a power blackout and I was bored and thinking about Regulus, and then this happened.

Set during Sirius's seventh year at Hogwarts, after he's left home and has been disowned.

* * *

><p>"Do you ever miss it?" Regulus asked. His finger traced a circle in the thick dust that coated the cracked wooden tabletop and he raised his eyes to stare at his brother, waiting impatiently.<p>

Sirius frowned and asked, "Miss it? Miss what?" He paused, thinking. "This?"

"Yes, this. Do you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know." He pushed his hair out of his face, feeling irritably flustered. "Should I? I wasn't aware that this is the kind of thing that people usually miss when they run away from home."

"You don't think people miss their siblings when they leave home?"

"Oh." Sirius blinked. "I didn't- I thought-"

Regulus smirked bitterly. "You thought I was asking if you missed hiding in dusty old buildings like a fugitive?"

He ignored him. "I do, you know." He waved a hand between them in a vague gesture. "Miss this." He swallowed painfully. "Miss you."

"Good," Regulus decided. He drew a curved smile and dotted two eyes in the circle he'd made in the dust. "I miss you too. It's not the same without you. It's too..." He shrugged, no words coming to mind.

He raised an eyebrow. "Prejudiced?" he suggested. "Evil?"

"I was going to say 'quiet' but all of a sudden quiet seems like a good thing."

"Shut up, you miss me, you said so yourself."

Regulus grinned. "I did say that, didn't I."

"Should I ask for it in writing, in case you try to deny it again?" Sirius conjured a piece of parchment and a party-transparent quill. He shook it with frustration and it shimmered into full existence. He held them out for Regulus to take.

"Fuck off," laughed Regulus, pushing his hands away. "I'm never expressing my fondness for you ever again, if this is how you're going to react. You're trampling my heart right now, y'know."

Sirius grinned. "I know."

Regulus sighed, smiled, and leaned back in his chair. "So," he sighed. He dusted his hands on his robes, leaving white smudges on the fabric. "Living with the Potters. How's that... how's that going for you?"

"It's going marvellously," Sirius enthused a little too brightly. "I'm yet to be subjected to prejudiced, idiotic, psychotic bullshit by any of them."

"So _far_."

"Yes, so far." He pushed his hair back behind his ears and cursed the new length. "You've always gotta - gotta watch out for that 'so far'."

"Yeah, it'll sneak up on you."

"Yeah, that's what... uh, what they say."

Regulus chewed on his lip, then asked, "Is it always going to be like this?"

"Dusty? I should hope not. Maybe next time you'll give the place a sweep before you invite me over."

"Do you remember when we were kids?" Regulus asked almost angrily, charging forward and ignoring Sirius's attempt at avoidance.

Sirius shrugged and admired his fingers. "I remember the important parts."

"Before Hogwarts, I mean."

"Well then, not much of it."

"We used to be best friends, before Hogwarts," Regulus reminded him. "It sounds cheesy, but it was the two of us against the world, remember?"

"You were cuter then. It made you easier to love. You had a lisp."

Regulus snorted, then said, "Still, the point remains. I wasn't always just some Slytherin you used to know. I'm your brother first, aren't I?"

"I wouldn't come here and meet with you if I didn't still remember that, Reg."

He nodded, looking sadly pleased. "Good... just... that's good." He nodded again, once, a jerk little movement for his own records.

Sirius looked at his brother and tilted his head. His fingers were still splayed before him. "Is it true you're joining the Death Eaters?"

Regulus stared back at him with a look akin to outrage muted on his face. "If I said yes?"

"I don't know." He shrugged, truly not knowing.

"Is it true Remus is a werewolf?"

Sirius glared at him. "If I said yes?" he demanded through gritted teeth.

"I wouldn't tell anyone," Regulus told him, blankly honest. He held a hand out, long fingered and pale, and gestured for Sirius to take it. "Can't break a handshake. Isn't that what you always used to say?"

"That was before I learnt about Unbreakable Vows," Sirius grumbled, but took his hand and meshed their fingers together as they shook. He looked at him. "So? Are you joining the Death Eaters?"

Regulus nodded. "Yes. Is your friend a werewolf?"

Sirius nodded. "Yes." He dropped his hand and his eyes, feeling guilty and angry. "I don't understand, Regulus. You have to understand that they're insane, right? You know that, yeah?"

"It's not the people, it's the goal," he told him gently.

"It's a bullshit goal!" He sounded like a petulant child, whining and crying at the unfairness of the world.

Regulus glowered at him. "I've never once tried to force my views on you, so don't you try it with me, Sirius."

Sirius's nose twitched. "I hate you sometimes," he said sincerely as he scratched a swirl in the dusty tabletop with his finger. "You're friends with my enemies, you're joining the worst man in the world, and you freely admit it."

"I never asked you to support me in these decisions, nor have I ever asked you to come to 'Bring Your Brother to Work Day_' _with the rest of the Death Eaters."

"Don't joke about - that."

"Excuse me for trying to lighten the mood," Regulus grumbled with a roll of his light eyes. "Honestly, Sirius. Leaving home has been disastrous for your sense of humour."

"And apparently my leaving home has done wonders for yours," huffed Sirius. "If you find that sort of evil shit hilarious, that is."

Regulus shrugged, unconcerned. "I've made my choice."

"It's a stupid choice."

"You're being immature."

Sirius scowled. "No, _you're_ being immature."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake." He shook his head and glared at him. He brushed a hand through his hair, ruffling it, scratching his scalp. "Mum asks about you sometimes. Asks if I've seen you. She never asks me anything other than that, though."

"And?"

"And what?"

Sirius crossed his arms and stared at his brother. "_And_, what do you tell her?"

Regulus snorted, tucked his dark hair behind his ears. "I tell her you're as Gryffindor as ever and you are likely a flaming drag queen who has a passion for fashion." He smirked. "What do you think I tell her, prat? I tell her I see you in the halls and you look fine. That's all."

"Next time please tell her I'm dead."

"Will do."

There was a stretch of silence before Sirius worked up the courage to say, "Reg, I hate to - to chat and run, but I've got an appointment in ten minutes-"

Regulus laughed at him. "Liar."

He took a breath. "Okay." He looked at his brother imploringly. "Truthfully? I don't want to be here anymore."

"Me neither," said Regulus a little too quickly. He stood, chair scraping against the floorboards. Dust floated around in the air, caught up in the whirl of motion. "Until next time, then?"

Sirius stood and came around to the other side of the table. He hugged Regulus, not quite long enough for either of them to relax into the tangle of familiar limbs, and then he let him go. "Until next time."

"I miss you," Regulus told him again. He couldn't help it. "Even though I shouldn't."

"I know the feeling," Sirius sympathised. "For the record, even though I think it's horrid, I won't-"

Regulus smiled. "I won't either."

He raised his hand, palm forward. "Can't break a handshake."

"Can't break a handshake," Regulus agreed, looking impossibly sad. "Tell Potter I said hello. Tell him I said thanks, too. For, y'know, keeping your ass in clean clothes and keeping you fed."

"Reg, you know I won't."

Regulus sighed, looked down, smiled sadly. "I know."

Sirius murmured, "I appreciate the thought. It's just that... James... he doesn't know I... He wouldn't understand why I come here. Why it's - He's an only child."

Regulus nodded. "I understand."

"Well." Sirius started for the door. "Bye."

"Swear we'll see each other again soon?"

"I swear."

"Okay."

They went their separate ways.


End file.
